


ATLA role reversal (fic outline)

by Banished_Fleets



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Agni : absent, Alternate Universe - Role Reversal, Excessive swearing because i can, Gen, dadkoda, fic outline, major plot changes because i want to, no one will be catching a fucking BREAK in this, tags to be added as i fuck around and find out, theyll sit down to fucking rest and shit is going to explode
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-22
Updated: 2020-10-22
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:06:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27154252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Banished_Fleets/pseuds/Banished_Fleets
Summary: The water tribes are not merciful - raised in the harsh cold of the arctic and hardened by winds that pounded their shelters until one gave way. The fire nation is weak- what can fire do against water?(close to nothing.)yeah!!!yeah baby it's a role reversal!!! I can't really write proper fics yet so here's an outline. That I'll probably never use.a shitty summary, but it's an ATLA role reversal fic outline. Bored enough to pick it up? tag me. Generous use of italics, good bloody god those were a pain to add in. I assure you my grammar is way better than this
Relationships: Azula & Zuko (Avatar), Katara & Sokka (Avatar), Ozai/Ursa (Avatar)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 20





	ATLA role reversal (fic outline)

**Author's Note:**

> hrrrg role reversal outline go brrrrrr
> 
> if you're bored as shirt or a new ff writer that doesn't know how to plot but wants to write a fic here you go. I just named all the NPCs after my family members rip to anyone that knows me irl 
> 
> sorry for the formatting i'm new to this. Really wish this was my first fanfiction but I had to write a birthday fic for my friend so rip

I. Book one, part one

Zuko and Azula both live with their father on the shore of a reef on the fire nation island. They moved there after the water tribes took their mother, who sacrificed herself for her children and her husband after waterbenders came for the last firebender. 

Ursa is taken just after Azula is born. Zuko, young, is unable to produce sparks and is deemed a non-bender. Azula, a literal baby, is hidden before they find out. 

Lu Ten is taken by the water tribes as a prisoner. Later, Iroh hears that he died as they tortured him repeatedly- freezing him in ice and waterboarding him. Iroh tries to find him in the spirit world- but it seems like he isn’t there. 

In this AU, Ozai truly loved Ursa- which is what makes her loss so much harder. He begins his day by praying over joss sticks for her return, even though it’s unlikely she’s even alive at this point. Ozai, angry at Zuko for allowing them to take away Ursa, burns Zuko’s face when the child interrupts his praying. Azula looks on in horror. 

Iroh and Zhao are background characters, much like Kanna. Zhao is a nonbender, but is still a huge bloody dink. Iroh isn’t there very much, he’s just a background voice in Zuko's and Azula’s head. Zhao still has the same personality, he wants to wreck the water nation hardcore. Iroh is calmer but harbors a grudge against the water tribes for dragging out Lu Ten’s death.

%%%%%%%

Azula and Zuko are off the coast, fishing. They have a boat. Zuko’s trying to learn to dive, while Azula looks on in all her disappointment. _Breath control is important for flames,_ Zuko argues. _Besides, we can grab some fish or whatever so dad won’t lose his shirt at us again._ Zuko wields a wooden spear- as Iroh always told him, _knowledge about the other elements can come in useful._

##### alt 1

Azula then mouths off on Zuko, and Zuko tosses his spear in the water in anger. It hits the iceberg, which has slowly been weathering away in the current. The iceberg floats to the surface and Aang pops out. Aang smiles like a maniac, because he’s a ball of sunshine so bright you’d burn your hands on him.

##### alt 2

Aang emerges from the iceberg, brought back by master waterbender Katara and her brother, Sokka. She waterbends the ice away, and Sokka watches with barely hidden envy. Aang smiles, greets them, and Katara invites him onto her boat ( the Aarluk ) under false pretenses. Due to no one knowing how to fight an Airbender (They’ve been gone for a hundred bloody years, and they were pacifists- what would anyone know?) He flees to the fire nation islands- where his friend Kuzon once was. 

Sokka has a scar over his left eye. It’s not really a scar, per se, but this is an AU. Sokka speaks up during a war meeting with the other tribe chiefs about _how you can’t just put innocent civilians on the front lines to fight the earth kingdom as buffer,_ and is promptly shut down by his mother. He’s sent off on a hunting trip that he really, _really_ shouldn’t attend at the age of eleven. He’s gored through the eye by a bull-bear, promptly rendering his left eye ineffective and giving him a gnarly scar. The fellow tribesmen are also horrified, they were meant to scare the kid into obedience, _how did this happen?_

Hakoda is horrified (as he should be), while Kanna just looks on in mild disinterest. She didn’t really want it to go that way, but a punishment is a punishment, and for everything Sokka takes, he must give. She gets the best waterbender healers to care for him- she’s not a monster- and while his eye cannot be saved, the flesh around his eye still can be. It leaves a scar though- and he wears an eye patch so he doesn’t scare the younger kids. Katara looks on- and she knows she’s now the favorite child, but it just doesn’t feel right anymore. 

They don’t know how to fight an airbender, and Aang escapes. Sokka tries to grab him by jumping off the ship (like an idiot), but Katara saves him. Then berates him about safety and _how you have to think before you act_ and recklessness. He gains a little respect and loses some from the crew. You’ve either got huge balls to jump off a ship to get a child, or you’re just a plain idiot. Lucky for Sokka, he’s both.

%%%%%%%%%%

Azula and Zuko aren’t dumb, although they have limited knowledge of the war. They figure out that Aang’s the avatar pretty fast, after turning away and muttering to each other about _how a twelve year old really shouldn’t still be alive at this point and he’s definitely a spirit, all the airbenders died out decades ago._ Zuko pokes him, _yup, definitely physical,_ and the boy declares that he’s definitely not the avatar. In the incredibly convincing way a twelve year old can. Azula calls his bluff.

They bring him back to their father, who attempts to capture him because _if he can give the avatar to the water savages maybe just maybe he can get his wife back-_ but Zuko and Azula just straight up forking run. And by run, I mean they hop on the sky bison _which was supposed to be extinct_ and head off to the air temples.

The air temples aren’t scorched, but instead covered in frost. Bodies litter the place- frozen in ice preserved by the climate in the peaks. There’s a skeleton by the roots of a tree- vines and shoots twine their way between the ribs ; a flower sprouts from a crack in their head. Monk Gyatso is frozen in ice, perfectly preserved. Skeletons litter the place around him- almost turned to dust and still dressed in water tribe furs and clothing. It’s horrifyingly beautiful in a way it shouldn’t be. 

Aang, of course, like any twelve year old (with a decent upbringing) confronted with the dead body of one of their father figures, loses his shirt. Almost blows them off the mountain, tattoos glowing and everything. Azula and Zuko calm him down, and they go on their way. 

%%%%%%%%%%

Sokka and Katara return to the water tribe. Due to an abundance of waterbenders, the water tribe is a beautiful metropolis not truly bound by infrastructure. Towers of ice, glittering glacial homes. A wall surrounds the village, reflective surfaces blinding to those approaching from the outside. 

The Southern water tribe and the North are slowly icebending their way towards each other. A giant bridge connecting them both. It’s slow work.

Kanna immediately asks about the avatar, and the giant beam of light that shot into the sky. Katara tells her, and while she isn’t pinning all the blame on Sokka, she is weaving the story so it sounds like his fault. It fits, though. _She always was good with her words._

\- Kanna, dissatisfied, gives Sokka a small boat. _“go get the avatar,”_ she tells him. _“and don’t come back until you do. You lost it, you go get it. Maybe that scar of yours can get you some sympathy points with the other nations.”_ Hakoda offers him a crew, and he accepts. He leaves.

######  notes 

\- It is my personal headcanon that most of the citizens in the fire nation are firebenders and mostly male. In china, men are often more prioritized, as they can carry on the family name- and the fire nation seems really, really intense on its honor and blood, so I’d assume that a firebender child would be the sign of a good family. Non-bender children would most likely be discarded. However, since the fire nation seems to be somewhere between the Qin and Han dynasty, I wouldn’t really know. Also, most men would be sent off to war, so the fire nation is pretty empty other than for some nonbender boys and women.

\- The fire nation is an archipelago- it’s likely they’re dependent on the ocean for fish and mostly eat meat. It’s a volcanic island, man. There's probably some farms by the seaside- which is where Zuko and Azula are. I guess they could have a farm. I mean, Ozai isn’t the best parent, he probably gave them swords and let them loose in the forest. 

\- In this AU, Zuko and Azula are raised by their father and Iroh. I absolutely refuse to make Ozai a good parent, because no. No, I don’t want to. The most he gets is love from his theater nerd wife, who’s now gone. Iroh is mostly the same, just mildly more bitter. I don’t really care about Ursa. Yeah, she’s hot as shirt but like… you abandoned your children… to the hands of a man you know is an abuser…kinda lame…

\- Azula grows up more with the caring love of her brother, and therefore isn’t that much of a sociopathic person. She’s still her, though, but with less cain instinct.

\- Kanna got like, what, three seconds of screen time? Shut up y’all I’m watching Coco while writing this and I reserve the right to fork around and find out. She’s playing the role of Ozai in this, and Hakoda the role of Ursa. Of course, they’re both alive, but this is an AU. Kanna prizes Katara for being a waterbender, while Hakoda loves Sokka and teaches him an impressive amount of stuff about weapons. Women aren’t discriminated this time, because it’s well recognized that they fight hard and are no weaker than men. Also, because half the tribe members and leaders are at least fifty percent sure that Kanna may or may not have killed the previous chief. 

\- A full moon is the equivalent to Sozin’s comet- when the push and the pull of the tides is increased, and the moon swells up to an unnatural size, increasing a waterbender’s ability tenfold. 

\- The equivalent to lightning is the practice of the burning ice. It’s essentially dry ice- ice that burns like a bench. Look how much we can learn from the other nations, Hakoda says, while Kanna smiles, look how much we’ve taken from them, look how much we’ve learned. Imagine so much more we can do. Bloodbending also exists, but is also confined to royalty- or the blood of the chiefs. Katara has mastered the burning ice, she can pull chunks out of thin air. She loves it, because it adds to the drama factor and is an absolute banger when she wants to come out of the fog not wet and soggy.

\- Hierarchy is the same. Think warring states period of china. The one before Emperor Qin came along and united all of it. There’s a lot of tribes spread out over the arctic, but some of them have more power than others, some of them bigger. 

\- Blue spirit Zuko, yay or nay? Honestly, I really really like Zuko’s crime boy alter ego. In this AU, he’ll still have that mask from his mother, and maybe Azula has one too. If there’s anything worse than one blue spirit, it’s twin spirits throwing hands with random people and stealing their shirt. Zuko’s not that good at firebending, while I’ve decided to keep Azula at her prodigy level. Zuko reverted to stealth to beat his sister, and he wins, what, one fourth of the time? My point is, he’d make a great assasin. 

\- This is a fanfiction. I wrote this for the violence. Pulling water from the air to spear someone with ice? Impale someone on a spire of rock? Burn someone to death? War is a bench that doesn’t care who lives and who dies. You do what you need to survive. 

\- As for Lu Ten, I have plans for him. Sit tight, Lu Ten simps. He’s going to crop up sometime. Ursa, however, isn’t. Cabbage merchant, definitely. As a note, I’ve modeled the avatar world around Singapore and China, and the food around Thailand, Singapore, and China. They’re all places I’ve lived and remember the most about. Got a lot of googling to do.

**Author's Note:**

> Notes can't be longer than 5000 characters??? um no <3
> 
> the chances of being killed by me are close to impossible but never zero. watch out 
> 
> if you leave a review I will actually cry. I will water my succulents with my tears


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